Day 43 with David - The Lord is our Good Shepherd.

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭23:1-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

As I was meditating on Psalms 23 today, the Holy Spirit brought an odd scripture to my mind. Now, I have read this scripture before; but it is definitely not one that just comes up in my mind. Here is the scripture:

“Thus says the Lord: “As a shepherd takes from the mouth of a lion Two legs or a piece of an ear, So shall the children of Israel be taken out Who dwell in Samaria— In the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch!”

‭‭Amos‬ ‭3:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Obviously, I understood that the Lord is using the actions of a shepherd to explain the terrible fate of His people who were committing idolatry: what/who would be saved would be a pitiful remnant. But what does this have to do with a good shepherd?

The Lord then directed me to this passage where—in explaining to Saul why he could defeat Goliath—David says this:

“But David said to Saul, “Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it.”

‭‭I Samuel‬ ‭17:34-35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

There it is. A good shepherd doesn’t just let the predator get away with snatching the sheep. Even if the sheep is in the predator’s mouth, even if the sheep is already torn apart, the good shepherd gets the sheep back…even if it’s in pieces!

Look what Jesus said about Himself:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own.”

‭‭John‬ ‭10:11-14‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

This is so powerful! Our Lord, our Good Shepherd, put Himself in the mouth of the enemy to retrieve us back to Himself! Not only that, tho He was torn in the process, He shook it off! He emerged victorious to hold our broken souls in His bosom where He makes us whole again!

Don’t you see it? David—a good shepherd—knew that there was a greater Good Shepherd Who watched over him. This Good Shepherd could do more than pull him out of the mouth of the destroyer, He could RESTORE his soul!

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

The Lord is our Good Shepherd.

#100dayswithdavid